OmniGraffle 7.11: Big Performance Update

OmniGraffle 7.11 for Mac improves performance in a number of ways:

• Moving groups and multiple selections is faster
• Scrolling, particularly in large documents, is faster
• Working with very large images is faster
• Using Variables in text fields is faster
• Opening documents with hundreds of canvases is faster
• Gradient Fill is faster
• Fill shape with text, and aligning text to the bottom of the shape, is faster

Performance has been the major focus of this release, and we think you’ll find the app is much snappier.

We’ve also added some new features: you can customize the Solid Fill Palette Colors; you can now automate Shape Combinations and the Fill shape with text option; and you can now view image metadata, so you can see things like file size, kind, and dimensions.

The image metadata is also helpful for performance: knowing, for instance, that an image is particularly large can help you optimize your documents.

Read the release notes for all the awesome details!

The Omni Show on OmniGraffle Performance

In the latest episode of The Omni Show, we go in-depth talking about the performance enhancements in OmniGraffle 7.11.

There’s never just one thing to fix; there’s never just one bottleneck. Working on performance means finding which things are slow, finding the root causes, measuring performance, measuring progress — and then making sure those performance enhancements stay fixed.

It’s a lot of work! But totally worth it. :)

This episode includes two interviews. The first is with Rey Worthington and Shannon Hughes, OmniGraffle engineers. The second is with Ken Case, CEO; Tim Wood, CTO; and Dan Walker, OmniGraffle PM.

It’s surely nerdier than most episodes — but we think you’ll enjoy the look behind the scenes at what it takes to make an app like OmniGraffle even better.

OmniPlan 3.11 for iOS: Now with Omni Automation

Recent releases of OmniPlan add a very big feature to the Pro edition: Omni Automation. You can write JavaScript scripts to automate OmniPlan (and other Omni apps with Omni Automation support).

Omni Automation can not only save you time by automating common tasks, it can also help avoid the kinds of errors that happen when you do things manually. For more about Omni Automation — including example scripts — see omni-automation.com.

OmniPlan for iOS has also added Site Licensing for businesses, schools, and other organizations. To learn more about site licensing, for any of our apps, please email sales@omnigroup.com

There are plenty of other changes too, including bug fixes and performance enhancements. For the full scoop, read the release notes for OmniPlan 3.11 for iOS and release notes for OmniPlan 3.13 for Mac.

OmniFocus for the Web Adds Forecast View

OmniFocus for the Web — the browser-based companion to OmniFocus for Mac and iOS — has just added a commonly-requested feature: the Forecast view.

It works like the Forecast view in the Mac and iOS versions: it shows you what’s on tap for today and what’s coming up in the future.

By showing you what’s coming up, Forecast helps you plan better — you can see when a day has too many or too few things, and you can reschedule as needed.

And, by showing you what’s scheduled for today, Forecast gives you a resting place in the app: when you’re working, you can stay on that view and just do what needs doing next.

Forecast was one of the most commonly-requested features, and we’re very happy that it’s ready for you now. There’s more to come!

OmniFocus and Dropped Actions

Recent versions of OmniFocus — iOS, Mac, and Web —  have all been updated with a new dropped actions feature that we’re very excited about.

Here’s the idea: sometimes you decide not to do a given task. You could delete it, or you could mark it as completed — but neither of those things are exactly right. What you really want to do is to drop it.

This way it’s recorded as dropped. It hasn’t just disappeared; it hasn’t been erroneously recorded as a thing you’ve done. Instead, you have a record of a path not taken, and that record could be helpful to you in the future.

For more details — including how to use it (it’s easy! and it even works with repeating tasks) — see our blog post on OmniFocus and Dropped Actions.

Omni Presents

New pictures of Omni’s fur friends appear pretty much every Friday on our microblog!

Here’s Scout the snow dog, who lives with Reid Callan, OmniFocus and OmniGraffle engineer. Scout’s a golden retriever with his very own Instagram account — that’s how smart he is!